Iowa State Fair: Want to win a hot dog-eating contest? Dunk them in Kool-Aid

We asked two Des Moines chefs, Sean Gleason of Gastro Grub & Pub in Waukee and David Baruthio of Baru 66 and Saison Kitchen + Pub in Windsor Heights, to taste the the top three new foods at the 2018 Iowa State Fair — and to predict the winner.
Wochit

As one of the top-25 professional eaters in the nation, Hazzard first got into competitive eating during — surprise — his first visit to the Iowa State Fair last year.

“I’m a competitive guy. I love food. I had a knack for eating large quantities and it kind of snowballed from there,” Hazzard said.

Since then he’s shown off his eating abilities on his YouTube channel, ranging in talents like eating a whole Costco pizza to devouring 25 ice cream sandwiches at the same time.

At the Iowa State Fair this year, he competed against six other men for the top hot dog honor. The crowd of several hundred got pumped up with an Eminem hot dog parody, but once the 10-minute all-you-can-eat competition started, everyone was focused.

Early on, Hazzard dominated the pack as he dunked hot dog buns into cherry Kool-Aid and later, raspberry lemonade to add some taste varieties.

He shimmied as he swallowed the hot dogs, mashing the buns with his hands, which slowly started to resemble baby food.

Though most of the people around him started to look worn out by the 7-minute mark, Hazzard was still shaking his body up and down.

“I listen to music and I wiggle around a lot, so people think I’m up there dancing,” Hazzard said.

Buy Photo

Aaron Adams of Ames, center, looks at the fans during the regional Nathan's Hot Dog eating contest on Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018, during the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.(Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)

At the end, he defeated his personal record and ate nearly 30 hot dogs or about three hot dogs a minute. Rene Rovtar, the sole woman competing in the competition, downed seven hot dogs.

Even though Hazzard consumed more hot dogs than most people do in an entire year, the Illinois man was still ready to go eat some fair food.

"I actually feel pretty good," Hazzard said. "You usually still have a little bit of room left, so there’s going to be something that catches my eye."